Overview

Chapter 2 introduces the reading apprenticeship framework.

Quotes

"As experienced readers read, they begin to generate a mental representation, or gist, of the text, which serves as an evolving framework for understanding subsequent parts of the text. As they read further, they test this evolving meaning and monitor their understanding, paying attention to inconsistencies that arise as they interact with the text. If they notice they are losing the meaning as they read, they draw on a variety of strategies to readjust their understandings. They come to texts with purposes that guide their reading, taking a stance toward the text and responding to the ideas that take shape in the conversation between the text and the self." p. 18

What is reading?

Reading is not just a basic skill.
Reading is a complex process.
Reading is problem solving.
Fluent reading is not the same as decoding.

• "...teachers cannot assume that students who fluently read narrative or literary texts will be equally fluent with expository texts or primary source documents." p. 19
• "...fluency grows as [adolescent readers] have opportunities, support, and encouragement to read a wide range of text types about a wide range of topics." p. 19

Reading is situationally bounded.
Proficient readers share some key characteristics.

• mentally engaged
• motivated to read and to learn
• socially active around reading tasks
• strategic in monitoring the interactive processes that assist comprehension
  • setting goals that shape their reading processes
  • monitoring their emerging understanding of a text
  • coordinating a variety of comprehension strategies to control the reading process

Dimensions of Classroom Life Supporting Reading Apprenticeships

Original framework (c) John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Adapted by Kimberly Hirsh.

The Social Dimension

• Creating safety
• Investigating the relationship between literacy and power
• Sharing book talk
• Sharing reading processes, problems, and solutions
• Noticing and appropriating others' ways of reading

The Personal Dimension

• Developing reader identity
• Developing metacognition
• Developing reader fluency and stamina
• Developing reader confidence and range

The Cognitive Dimension

• Getting the big picture
• Breaking it down
• Monitoring comprehension
• Using problem-solving strategies to assist and restore comprehension
• Setting reading purposes and adjusting reading processes

The Knowledge-Building Dimension

• Mobilizing and building knowledge structures (schemata)
• Developing content or topic knowledge
• Developing knowledge and use of text structures
• Developing disciplie- and discourse-specific knowledge

Metacognitive Conversation at the Center

"At the center of these interacting dimensions, and tying them together, is an ongoing conversation in which teacher and students think about and discuss their personal relationships to reading, the social environment and resources of the classroom, their cognitive activity, and the kinds of knowledge required to make sense of text." p. 22